Spring 2019, Wild Readers 5 discussion

I read the novel Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan and absolutely loved it. This story is focused a boy named Paul that has known that he was gay since he was a little boy. It shows the life of him and his friends with insight into all their relationships in their high school lives. It shows the heartbreaking life of not being accepted in society along with some families. Paul's friend Tony is missing out on relationships and love due to his religious parents that won't accept him as being gay. This is shown multiple times in the story that makes life harder on him and his friendships with Paul and the others. In the story Paul meets the new kid Noah at his friend Zeke's show and is interested immediately. Once the two start dating the story throws several hardships at the couple which will cause them to struggle. One of those hardships being Paul's bisexual ex boyfriend Kyle. In the story you see the story unfold and see that rumors are no good especially when they are spread among high school. Through all the drama you see Paul still being a good friend trying to help Joni realize that her new found boyfriend is just using her, while trying to fix his relationship with Noah after rumors spread. I loved this story because though it shows the negative aspect of opinions of some parents or individuals regarding the LGBTQ community, it also shows the love and friendships of a group of kids. It's whole focus is on their lives and not only based on the hate they receive from society. I would definitely recommend this book because it's portrayal of the LGBTQ community is shed in a beautiful light, not like the light we see in the real world sometimes.